Dark Shadows
by AlucardsCountess
Summary: From the mind of an assassin comes: Dark Shadows. Warnings: Language usage, violence, character deaths, possible lemons.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue **

_Vengeance...dark, cold, hate filled, petty and yet oh so sweet. It is as monstrous as it is fulfilling it is a lack of compassion of mercy and can often lead to war, sickness, disease, and always...death. _

_This is the ugly truth of the world in which we live in. Dreams and hope are for the weak...love is, but a fairytale told to children to help them sleep at night. Heroes riding in on noble white stallions are myth, lies to quell fears for a short time for the weak of heart. But the truth is and will always remain that we all live and we all die in one way or another. All of us want only one thing; to live on and so...we kill, cut down those who threaten our lives that will inevitably end all the same. _

_We kill that which we fear all in the name of living on and claim each swing of the sword, each loosed arrow, every spear or stone thrown to be done righteously, yet we have no remorse for the families of the fallen...we spit upon the decapitated head that rolls from the block and cheer and make merry when a noose breaks a neck..._

_Remorse...good...peace...They are all lies. _

_Do I mourn this...?_

_No!_

_For I have known this truth for years and I speak of it now to reveal the cold and ugly reality that is our world. I too am a petty and greedy individual. I have spilled blood and rubbed it over my hands like metallic soap, I have smiled while I watched a body roll off a cliff and hit every root, and sharp rock on the way down. I have laughed at men who cowered in my presence where they had laughed before. Grown men who showed me mercy is an illusion and yet they pleaded until their insufferable and keening voices were cut off as they choked and drowned in their own fluids._

_That is true sweetness...when one see's past the lies, recognizes the truth, accepts and embraces it. We all have our reasons to kill, most of us humans telling ourselves lies until even we believe them. But I know why I do. I accept it and that makes it more enjoyable. _

_The sweet fruit of vengeance. It is mine._


	2. Chapter 2

Moto Miyuki giggled as she watched her son, the six year old Yugi run about their small house excitedly, playing a game of pretend by himself, defending her from the big bad "pirates" that were in fact small wooden stools situated in the room. Never had she seen such a innocent and optimistic little boy before...such a thing was a true rarity in these times of war, their nation ruled by a warmonger tyrant. Poverty, homelessness, sickness, disease, murder, thievery, death, a person could not step outside of their homes without seeing it just outside...

Even the children of the city were vicious little things that always picked on her little tenshi and all because of his tri-color hair that stood straight up in spikes naturally, blond bangs framing his cute chubby face that hadn't yet lost its baby fat, his big violet eyes and fair skin, calling him "yokai" for his differences from them, and going as far as to beat and scratch him with their hands, even throwing him into dung piles they found a lot of times...and yet while it was clear as day due to the shimmering of the child's shimmering eyes, that the boy wanted to cry. And as pure as the boy clearly was surely he became secretly angry, but not once did he show it or raise a hand back to the children, nor did he tell his parents about it...they only knew now thanks to Yugi's Jii-chan being there when it happened one day.

Yugi's jii-chan, Siamun, now there was a man she dearly missed, her father-in-law, royal advisor in the Pharaoh's court. The poor old man worried dearly for all of them and did what he could for them even sent large sums of gold shillings he earned to them to help them get food and keep clothes without holes or tears in them, but the emperor was raising the taxes yet again on everything and even the shillings Siamun sent did very little to help them, but they wouldn't tell the old man that he was doing all he could already and was now even in the process of asking his highness, the Pharaoh of Egypt if they could be granted permission to live in Egypt with him...besides, as long as Yugi was taken care of she and her husband were happy. Their little boy was their whole world after all.

"Mama," Yugi whined when he noticed she wasn't looking at him and with a smile she turned to the little boy, putting down the knife she'd been using to cut smaller portions of the few vegetables and bread they had left.

"What is it my little tenshi?" she answered, bending down to look at him at eye level, she knew the boy preferred it that way so he could see her face without having to tilt his head too high.

"You are not acting like a captive," he replied with a soft pout.

"Oh forgive me. Am I still held by pirates?"

"No I saved you from the pirates now you are held by a fierce dragon yokai."

"A yokai? Oh no! Save me valiant magician~" she said dramatically, pretending to swoon and hid a giggle as her savior leaped into action waving his "wand" around that was in fact a stick he'd found earlier in the day before his father caught him.

Their little man had taken on an apprenticeship with the town's blacksmith secretly...apparently he wasn't so innocent that he didn't see that his parents were struggling even with the help of Siamun and had taken it into his own hands to help out. As noble and selfless as it was, they put a stop to it right away, Yugi was still a little boy, he should be allowed to enjoy his childhood as much as he could while it lasted, little boys grew up too fast in these days, they didn't want to see that happen to their son. Wanted to protect that pure light in him as long as they were able.

As if to contradict her thoughts, a sudden cough erupted from her throat, a violent one at that, that made her stomach suddenly get unsettled, her hand flying to her mouth in an attempt to keep bile down. This cough was nothing new, she had, had it for weeks as did her husband, a fever coming and going, upset stomach constant, but they did their best to hide it from Yugi, knowing he would worry and sure enough the boy stopped in his playing and turned to her in concern and fear.

"Mama...?" he asked, his voice shaky as he stepped closer.

"I am..." she started as dizziness began to creep up on her, making her blink and shake her head. Bad idea, it made it worse. But she continued on anyway. "I am alright little one, just stay ba.."

But she never finished the sentence as the dizziness took her mind and everything started to go dark, her heart pounding harshly in her chest as she felt herself falling to the floor, hearing calls of "mama!" over and over again until that too began to fade away until she heard nothing more.

* * *

><p>Moto Yugi stood silent in the rain, eyes shimmering with sadness and unshed tears as he waited for the Pharaoh's men to finish their preparations for the journey to Egypt, his tiny form slouched as he stood getting soaked, hair usually in spikes, now drenched and hanging down his back. He still could barely believe it though he seen it himself.<p>

Mama had recovered for a little while after the day she fell and then she got sick...really sick, and so did papa their faces were always flushed with fever, eyes always clouded with illness, they couldn't hold down food or water, they were always too hot or too cold...and then one day they didn't wake up.

He didn't understand, they seemed to be so healthy before...if he had been more attentive instead of playing would he have noticed sooner, would they still be alive?

And why was the emperor so mean?

As soon as their leader had heard of his parent's death, he had ordered the boy out of not only the city, but the entire nation stating "I wish for no more filthy rats on our streets" and sent word to Siamun in Egypt and so the poor grieving boy had no choice, but to either live with his Jii-chan in the desert if the Pharaoh was indeed as kind as the old man said...if not the boy would have no choice but to leave there as well and live as best as he could on his own until he too died for he would not pull his grandfather down with him.

Mama and papa were dead because of him...they had given him the only food in the house a lot of times when they didn't have enough for all of them, always made sure he was clothed, healthy and taken care of as best as they could being a very poor family, their home too small for the three of them and very poorly insulated against the elements and cold winter or hot summer.

Would they have been better off if he'd never been born?

Probably...

"We are ready little boy," he heard one of the men say, but he could only quietly nod, unable and unwilling to find his voice to answer and followed the man onto the ship where he obediently sat against some kind of cloth situated at the lower part of the ship that would have impressed and excited him and his imagination another time, but not today...he was too busy holding his tears back, keeping a brave face as he always did until he could cry himself into peaceful sleep later. He could only hope Jii-chan didn't hate him now.

Jii-chan was all he had left now...mama and papa weren't coming back...and who knew what the emperor was going to do with their bodies? Would he be kind enough to give them a funeral? And if so why couldn't he have at least let Yugi stay long enough to see them off to the afterlife instead of holding the grieving boy captive and quarantined for the week it took the Pharaoh's men to arrive. But at least he had been seen by a healer, Jii-chan's request no doubt to make sure he didn't have the sickness that his parents did.

So now he was on his way to his new life, what would come of it was unclear for the time being, but thankfully he at least knew how to read and write in both Egyptian and Japanese and speak the languages as well thanks to Jii-chan and papa teaching him so one good thing was if he was allowed to stay, he would know the language without Jii-chan's help.

Now the question was would he be allowed to stay with his grandfather, or would he have to set out on his own...only time would tell.

* * *

><p>AC: And there you have it, chapter 1. I hope you all enjoyed it, please remember to comment what you thought of it, even point out mistakes if you seen them, I only ask you refrain from flaming. ^^ Looking forward to hearing from you~ All of the luffles~<p>

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, or the characters of said epic series all characters belong to their creator, Kazuki Takahashi except for originals that may make an appearance. This is a work of fan fiction, I make no money on this. Also to clear up any confusion I don't know if Miyuki is Yugi's mom's actual name, I just gave her that one.

Translation of words used:

**Tenshi:** Angel

**Yokai:** Demon

**Jii-chan:** Grandfather or grandpa


	3. Chapter 3

Anyone who claimed that the royal life was all luxury and carefree didn't know what they were talking about in the least...okay so maybe that wasn't entirely true, but for a certain prince, his life was anything but luxurious.

He had it better than most children his age with not having to worry about shelter, food, or riches yes, but he was lacking in other areas that made the village and even the slave children richer than he would ever be. They had one or both parents for one thing, and while the prince had his father...he didn't really have a father as much as he had a Pharaoh who's eyes caught every last mistake he made. Rarely was he ever shown affection from his father, most of the time it was all reprimands and lessons on "how a prince should behave" and "things he'd have to know to be the Pharaoh one day."

But he didn't want any of that, he wanted to be treated like any other boy his age, wanted to spend time with his father that wasn't lessons for the future or being berated for wanting to play. He wanted for the children his age to be able to look him in the eye, play, or at least hold conversation instead of bowing quickly and scampering away like frightened mice. He wanted to be able to go into town without having to sneak there and go more than once a year without an escort. He wanted a friend his age or maybe a little older or younger that he could talk to, play with, laugh with, cry with.

That was how the other children were richer than he could ever be, they had a loving parent or both parents that would still reprimand them if they did something wrong, but showered them with love and affection, regardless. They had parents that wouldn't reprimand them for having a small slip up, they would simply patiently show them the right way to do things and encourage them as they tried to do better. Atemu often times would slip up just for his father to speak to him at all and even though it was always reprimands that hurt him emotionally it was better than nothing...and more often than not nothing was exactly what he got, the Pharaoh too busy to spend any kind of other time with him.

Other children had friends too that they could confide in and play with when they were taking a break or got finished with their chores and duties. He could hear kids often times just beyond the gates and around the servants quarters laughing and having a good time together, he'd seen them sometimes leave the palace with their parents, it was to get things that were running low in the palace yes, but the parents and children left and returned with smiles every time. Other children had located a branch off of the river Nile behind their quarters that was blissfully free of crocodiles and went swimming together..

And he was left out of it all.

He could only watch as others had fun.

Could only observe them with their loving family no matter how big or small it was.

And he longed for it all.

But he was a prince and as such he was denied such things, his teachers he'd opened up enough to, telling him that he would outgrow such longing and understand things better as he aged and though he was sure adults were speaking from experience, he also noticed that a lot of them most of the time were blank faced or bearing a deep frown upon their features and he didn't want to grow up to be that way and he was sure that if he had friends at least he wouldn't. But he was friendless.

Well maybe that wasn't entirely true.

There was master Siamun who always bore a smile when in private, sometimes it was a strained one showing he had something on his mind that he was hiding...possibly about his son and daughter in law in some far away land called Japan that the old man had told him about a few times and visited a few times. The prince always enjoyed listening to the old man's tales of the land, fascinated by how different it was from his own, enjoyed hearing of his family in the far off land and the grandson who's name always escaped the prince's memory, but it was foreign, he knew that much.

What was it again..? Yuki..? Yuzu..? Something beginning with "y".

Well what ever it was, that was another boy richer than he was in the same ways as other children were. He had both parents that adored him, a grandfather that would do anything for any of them, he was actually encouraged to be a child while he could, and while they didn't have much, his family always put him first. Yes, they struggled especially with money to get food, but they made it by well enough according to master Siamun.

He envied Yuka...for that...wait that wasn't right...Yuya..? What ever his name was. But according to what he heard the other boy was pretty selfless and knew he was lucky which made the small prince want to meet him one day. For boys his age to be happy with what they had and not dream of royal living like he'd heard others do, it was truly remarkable. But that wasn't the only reason he wished to meet this other boy, Siamun had told him before that he and Yuka...Yuri.. Whatever it was... Anyway he'd heard from Siamun that he and the other boy shared some similarities in looks, but before the old advisor could go into detail they were always interrupted.

But the effect was that Atemu became more and more interested in the unknown boy, he was definitely someone that he'd want to befriend if he had the chance to.

_Maybe someday I'll meet him._

* * *

><p>The ship had docked just a day ago and Yugi was now on his way to the palace, his young heart going between beating wildly in his chest from nervousness and more than just a little fear, to calmly, but achingly thumping in his chest as he grieved for his departed parents.<p>

His mind just kept taking him to the fact that he hadn't had a chance to tell them goodbye, or to tell them he loved them one more time...on top of this guilt consumed him from the inside out as he continually blamed himself for their deaths, remembering all the times they had gone without just so he would be taken care of. Thinking that maybe they would still be alive right now if he hadn't been born to begin with..

In his mind it made perfect sense what he was surmising to himself. If he hadn't been born they could have probably been living a lot easier and happy and most of all they would be living period. They would only have to worry about taking care of themselves. They could have both been working to bring in the food and money they needed instead of mama having to stay at home with him.

Papa could still be working with the blacksmith or maybe even have been in the emperor's court, he was smart enough for it and he had a good connection with Jii-chan being advisor to the Pharaoh of Egypt but he'd wanted to be with him and mama so much and take care of them that he didn't let himself do so.

Mama could have joined the other ladies working in the rice fields when rice planting season came or have put her talents with a needle and thread to good use or both, but she didn't because she had to stay with him all the time and make sure he was taken care of, make sure he wasn't still being bullied and picked on by other children, make sure he stayed in good health.

And now they were both gone and they were never, ever coming back.

This wasn't just a game of hide and seek they liked to surprise him with sometimes where he would look for them and then they'd pop up from their hiding places with a bright smile and shower him with love. They weren't hiding, they were gone and that was it. There was no popping out, there was no seeing them again until he too died one day...whenever that would be.

He felt the familiar sting behind his eyes then and released one hand from the reins he was holding onto, to wipe his eyes just as the moisture made an appearance in the corners of his eyes. He didn't need to start crying again right now, not when his meeting with Jii-chan and the Pharaoh was fast approaching.

They were already in the town, but the pale boy didn't even notice the stares and whispers directed at him, his mind far too consumed both with his guilt and his fear of what was coming.

As he'd thought before, Jii-chan had told him many times about how good and just a monarch that the Pharaoh was, but he'd also told him that the prince shared some similarities with him...he didn't know all of the customs of Egypt, but what if he was turned away because of the similarities? What if he was seen as too much of a bother or too much of a danger considering where he had just come from. His parents had died of sickness after all and though he didn't have said sickness nor was he a carrier of it this being confirmed by a healer, the Pharaoh may not know this and consider him too dangerous to be around.

No he didn't know much about Egyptian customs, but what he did know was that the Pharaoh's word was absolute, once he made his decree there was no arguing with him otherwise the arguer would be severally punished and he wouldn't have Jii-chan punished just for him being there, he'd already doomed his parents, he wouldn't see the same or worse befall his grandfather. He'd leave and strike out on his own first if he wasn't allowed to stay and live as best as he could on his own.

He was guilty yes, he knew he was, but he wasn't just going to roll over and die either, his parents wouldn't have wanted that.

"Hey little boy," a soldier by the name of Abasi said, startling Yugi from his thoughts to which the man gave a sympathetic look, but Yugi just forced a smile of reassurance back. "I do not know how much you know of our culture, but when meeting the Pharaoh do not look at him, speak when asked a question and keep your answers short and you should be fine," the man added to which the small boy only quietly nodded.

Alas the small youth became immersed in his thoughts again right after, not hearing Abasi continue by telling him the directions to where he was meant to be meeting his grandfather and so when he was helped off the horse and set on his feet, barely registering it had even happened, he mechanically began walking aimlessly, not knowing or even seeing where he was going nor in his far too troubled mind did it matter...

That is until his feet finally registered that his soft soles had met with soft grass and the boy blinked out of his thoughts and looked up in surprise, stopping right where he stood to find himself standing in some kind of oasis looking place or a garden.

He was about to panic for all of a moment until his wide, violet eyes took in some kind of bright white columns a short distance away, but before he could take another step toward them, hoping that it would lead back inside and he could find his Jii-chan there was a rustle just ahead of him, some kind of bush he couldn't identify rustling just before a tan boy about his age stepped out and regarded him with wide crimson eyes just as Yugi felt his own get wider.

A...A doppleganger...?

* * *

><p>AC: That seems like a good stopping spot for now and leaves me a good opening to get the next chapter up faster. Don't worry everyone the next update shouldn't take as long as this one did. I hope you all enjoyed this newest chapter please leave your comments about things you liked, what you disliked, mistakes if you seen any, or even suggestions you may have and don't forget to vote if you enjoyed it. -Smiles.- Now little Yu-chan if you please~<p>

Yugi: AC doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of its characters we are the property of Kazuki Takahashi, but the plot is hers and any oc's that may make an appearance later on in this fanfiction. And don't call me Yu-chan!

Atemu: AC also makes no money from this fanfiction, this is non-profit writing simply for her and other fan's enjoyment.

Yugi and Atemu: Thanks for reading~ ^^


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